International Anti-Corruption Academy

The International Anti-Corruption Academy (IACA) is an international intergovernmental organization[1] based in Laxenburg, Austria that teaches government, other officials, and professionals[2] about anti-corruption measures.[3] Membership to the organization is, without a mandatory membership fee,[4] open to UN-member states and intergovernmental organizations.

International Anti-Corruption Academy
Campus in Laxenburg
AbbreviationIACA
Founded atVienna, Austria
HeadquartersLaxenburg, Austria
Members
75 states
4 international organizations
Dean and Executive Secretary
Thomas Stelzer
Websitewww.iaca.int

History

Background

The process of creating an international organization focusing on anti-corruption education dates to 2005, when an Interpol working group began discussing such an endeavor.[5] At Interpol's 75th general assembly in September 2006, member states voted unanimously in favor of forming an academy "aimed at tackling the problem of corruption within public services worldwide."[6] On 9 October 2006, following the assembly, Austrian Minister of the Interior Liese Prokop, Interpol secretary-general Ronald Noble and Büro für Interne Angelegenheiten (BIA) director Martin Kreutner formally announced the intention to create the IACA in the Austrian capital Vienna.[7]

In July 2007, Noble and Austria's Minister of the Interior, Günther Platter, met in Vienna and signed an agreement for the establishment of the IACA in Laxenburg.[8] The agreement was approved at Interpol's 76th general assembly in November 2007.[9] In October 2008, Noble and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) executive director Antonio Maria Costa signed a partnership agreement to help the IACA "enable more effective implementation" of the United Nations Convention against Corruption, which went into effect in December 2005.[10]

Launch

IACA was launched on September 2, 2010 by the UNODC, Interpol, the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and the Republic of Austria.[11][12] On March 8, 2011, IACA gained the status of an international organization and was registered as such with the United Nations.[13][14]

Display of flags of IACA's membership at its Laxenburg headquarters

Since the accession of Myanmar to the IACA in October 2019, the organisation has 79 members, including four intergovernmental organizations and 75 UN member states.[15][16]

Organization

Educational program

IACA is recognized as an institution for post-graduate education by the Austrian ministry of Science, Research and Economy and is subsequently entitled to offer post-graduate education under the framework of the Bologna process.[17] It started its first Masters program in February 2013; at that time the coursework was run in seven twelve-day blocks, taken over two years.[5]

IACA offers two Masters programs.[18] IACA's approach towards its Masters programs is described as holistic by the OSCE and the research portal of the French Ministry for the Economy and Finance.[13][14] El Mundo reported that the studies are designed to be interdisciplinary and have a practical dimension.[19] In 2018 there were approximately 1,600 alumni.[20]

Finances

The Austrian news magazine, News, reported that IACA posted a budget of €12.98 million for the 2014 financial year and a budget of €13.24 million for 2015; while noting that the actual revenues for 2013 were €2.3 million and expenditures were around €2.1 million.[4] IACA told the News that the higher numbers were based on their fund-raising goals.[4] At the end of 2015 and the beginning of 2016 IACA underwent a turnover in staff.[4]

During IACA's seventh Assembly of Parties in September 2018, Eduardo Vetere, the chairman of IACA's Board of Governors, referred to an external auditor's report which concluded that IACA was in danger of insolvency.[21] A working group was set up in December 2018 to restructure the income situation and generate membership contributions.[22] The Austrian government made a contribution of €544,000 in December 2018.[23]

Leadership

IACA is headed by its dean, who also serves as the executive secretary of the organization. Martin Kreutner served from IACA's creation in March 2011 to the end of January 2019 as IACA's first dean.[23] The position remained vacant and was taken over by Christiane Pohn-Hufnagel, the organizations Chief of Staff and Head of General Services, in an acting capacity. On March 2, 2020 Thomas Stelzer took office as IACA's new dean and executive secretary. His initial term is limited to four years and might be extended.[24]

Relationships with member countries

IACA's relations with Azerbaijan and the Russian Federation were criticized after IACA held its 2014 annual conference in Baku at the time of a governmental crackdown on non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and anti-corruption activists.[25] According to Correctiv, one of the students at IACA was an Azerbaijani public prosecutor, who worked for the investigating authority that was prosecuting the Azerbaijani anti-corruption activist and journalist Khadija Ismayilova.[25]

Another international controversy that was discussed within IACA occurred in 2012, when tensions arose as the representative of Syria stressed that, notwithstanding the election of the Israeli Mordechai Kremnitzer to IACA's board of governors, his government did not accept Israel's right of existence. The comment was rebuked by the Israeli ambassador in a fashion that was described as breaching the diplomatic protocol.[26]

Past and current lecturers

See Also
gollark: Oh, good point, I didn't realize that that existed and would be a workable way to test that. Guess it's probably fine then.
gollark: I would probably sign up for cryonics if I had the relevant money, which I do not.
gollark: Oh, I probably should also have scrolled down further, oops.
gollark: Sorry, I meant to reply to the message above that.
gollark: What are you basing this on? I don't think there's much to work off beyond just pointing at somewhat bad trends which are happening.

References
  1. Schermers, Henry G.; Blokker, Niels M. (2011). International institutional law : unity within diversity (5th ed.). Boston: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. p. 30. ISBN 9789004187962. Retrieved 2019-05-02.
  2. "To check Corruption in India, CVC trains officials in Europe". The Economic Times. 2 April 2019. Retrieved 2019-05-02.
  3. Fletcher, Clare; Herrmann, Daniela (2012). The internationalisation of corruption : scale, impact and countermeasures. Gower. p. 2. ISBN 9781409411291.
  4. Melichar, Stefan (16 February 2016). "Das Luftschloss: Über die Internationale Anti-Korruptionsakademie". News.at (in German). Retrieved 2018-08-21.
  5. Gottsauner-Wolf, Moritz; Zotter, Christoph (31 January 2013). "Wo die Korruptionsjäger büffeln" (in German). Die Zeit. Retrieved 2018-08-21.
  6. "INTERPOL to create international anti-corruption academy" (Press release). Interpol. 20 September 2006. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  7. "Antikorruptions-Akademie in Wien" (PDF) (Press release) (in German). Ministry of the Interior (Austria). 9 October 2006. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  8. "Interpol International Anti-Corruption Academy - Signing of a Headquarters Agreement" (Press release). European Partners Against Corruption. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  9. "Interpol General Assembly approves Headquarters Agreement on Anti-Corruption Academy in Austria" (Press release). European Partners Against Corruption. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  10. "International Anti-Corruption Academy Established in Austria" (Press release). United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. 13 October 2008. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  11. "Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon inaugurates world's first anti-corruption academy" (Press release). United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. 2 September 2010. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  12. "UK backs new corruption-fighting academy" (Press release). United Kingdom: Department for International Development. 3 September 2010.
  13. Adrian, Jean-François (June 2013). "Austria's International Anti-Corruption Academy" (PDF). Responsive Public Management. 55. Retrieved 2018-08-21.
  14. OSCE Handbook on Combating Corruption. OSCE. 2016. p. 24. ISBN 9789292341923. Retrieved 2018-08-21.
  15. "Myanmar Joins IACA" (Press release). International Anti-Corruption Academy. 9 October 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  16. "List of parties and signatories". International Anti-Corruption Academy. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  17. "International Anti-Corruption Academy, Laxenburg" (PDF). bmbwf.gv.at. Federal Ministry for Education, Science and Research of the Republic of Austria. Retrieved 2019-05-10.
  18. Hu, Jiaxiang; Harding, Andrew; de Visser, Maartje (2017). Legal Education in Asia: From Imitation to Innovation. Brill. p. 91. ISBN 9004349693. Retrieved 2019-05-02.
  19. Santivañez, Martin (17 May 2013). "IACA, la academia internacional anticorrupción" (in Spanish). El Mundo. Retrieved 2018-08-21.
  20. Puchleitner, Klaus (2018). "Wien, Hauptstadt der Korruptionsbekämpfung / Vienna, capital in fighting corruption". Cercle Diplomatique (in German and English) (3). pp. 72–75. Retrieved 2018-09-10.
  21. "Report of the Chairperson of the Board of Governors" (PDF). International Anti-Corruption Academy. 27 September 2018. p. 6. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
  22. Melichar, Stefan (3 December 2018). "Anti-Korruptionsakademie droht Pleite" (in German). Retrieved 2019-05-04.
  23. Bachner, Michael (16 January 2019). "Chef verlässt internationale Anti-Korruptions-Akademie" (in German). Kurier. Retrieved 2019-05-05.
  24. "Diplomat Stelzer neuer Chef der Antikorruptionsakademie" (in German). orf.at. 9 February 2020. Retrieved 2020-02-14.
  25. Richter, Frederik (29 June 2017). "How the Siemens bribery settlement funds opacity". Correct!V. Retrieved 2018-08-21.
  26. Ahren, Raphael (4 December 2014). "Frankly, Syria, we don't give a damn". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 2019-05-04.
  27. "Faculty". iaca.int. International Anti-Corruption Academy. Retrieved 2019-05-04.
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